In addition to The Prophet and numerous other volumes written in English, Kahlil Gibran published several books in his native language, Arabic. Beginning in 1948 we have been issuing these in definitive, complete, authorized versions. They include Spirits Rebellious and Nymphs of the Valley. The largest of these is A Tear and a Smile, which contains fifty-six parables, stories, and poems in Gibran's wholly inimitable manner. Illustrated with four of his own paintings and drawings, A Tear and a Smile is the most important recent addition to the canon of this greatly loved writer.
Robert Hillyer, who knew Gibran personally, has contributed to this volume an Introduction that sheds a warm light both on Kahlil Gibran the man and on the qualities and variety of his writings.
Translated from the Arabic by H.M. Nahmad
Editorial Review(s)
"His power came from some great reservoir of spiritual life else it could not have been so universal and potent, but the majesty and beauty of the language with which he clothd it were all his own." --Claude Bragdon
About the Author
Kahlil Gibran, poet, philosopher, and artist was born in Lebanon, in 1883, and received his primary education in Beruit before emigrating with his parents to Boston in 1895. In 1889 he returned to Lebanon to continue his studies in Arabic before returning to Boston in 1903, around which time he met Mart Haskell, who would become his lifelong benefactor. In 1912, he settled in New York City and devoted himself to writing (both in Arabic and English) and to painting. Gibran died in 1931.